We know from objects found in the area (objects made of stone, ceramics and bronze), that the rock upon which the castrum Montis Sancti Juliani (traditionally known as the Castle of Venus) was constructed in the Middle Ages, was visited by local populations since prehistoric times.
Historical sources and, more importantly, inscriptions found in Erice date the earliest use of the site as a sanctuary dedicated to the cult of an important fertility goddess to 7th-6th centuries BC. The fame of the sanctuary, in which sacred prostitution was practiced, as in other sanctuaries of the same time period scattered along the main maritime routes of the Mediterranean, increased after the Roman conquest of Sicily in the third century BC. The Romans identified the goddess with Venus going so far as to bring her cult to Rome where two temples to the Venus of Erice were dedicated.
After a long period of decline, from late Antiquity to the low Middle Ages when much of the remains of the sanctuary were lost, a small church dedicated to Santa Maria della Neve (St. Mary of the Snow) was constructed, perhaps contemporaneously with the construction of the Castle by the Normans (11th-12th centuries AD).
In the more recent times, the area around the castle underwent further changes beginning with the construction of the present-day access ramp (in the 16th century AD) which substituted the ancient drawbridge, spanning the moat that divided the lower fortified part (a place known as the “Balio” castle) from the main fort on the rock. Further restorations and changes were carried out by Count Pepoli in the 19th century; and finally, archeological excavations by the Superintendence of Antiquities took place in 1930-31 under the direction of G. Cultrera, modifying once again the internal spaces of the monument, tearing down walls. Thanks to excavation samples, it was possible to partially identify the ancient structures corresponding to the sacred enclosure of the sanctuary. |
